Anyone using a Onaw ploter / AIS TX?

[PhillM]

I am looking at upgrading my electronics ahead of a few x-channel trips planned for next year. I was looking at independent AIS and plotter then working out how to connect, then came across this:

Onwa KP39A chart plotter AIS TX B+
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Onwa-KP3...189043&hash=item4695e98bfc:g:MK0AAOSwh99cQaxV

I have a Navonics Silver card so would hope to use that. I expect that would add a separate GPS antenna and VHF Stubby. I do not have guard rails, so will have to make somthing to mount them on, at the stern. So both will be low down.

Has anyone got any direct experience of the company, the product or the UK supplier?

Thanks!

 

[DoubleEnder]

Can’t help with Onwa, but I am doing an ‘upgrade’ as well, following the death of my old Standard Horizon CP180i. I also have no guardrails. After a lot of thought I am going to have 2 tablets on board and no dedicated plotter. For the last 5 years I’ve been using an iPad with Navionics, in a decent waterproof case. It has fewer functions than a proper plotter, but it has enough. The screen is 10 inches, which is lovely. It isn’t great in bright sunshine, but it is easy enough to shade it. If you turn off as much as possible except for the Navionics the battery life is adequate. I get chart updates all year round for less than £40 per annum, whereas the CMAP cards were very expensive. I used it much much more than the little plotter.

As backup I am going to get a 10 inch Android tablet, and run OpenCPN. I have no experience of Android or OpenCPN but how hard can it be. A decent Samsung costs £200, don’t know yet which charts I will buy.

Tablets have internal GPS antenna and on a wooden boat they work fine anywhere on board.

There are numerous low cost AIS B receivers available that will transmit to a tablet via wifi. I use a VHF antenna on a sucker mount that sticks to a varnished horizontal surface. It actually works ok on a shelf just inside the hatch....
I also have a phone and a VHF equipped with GPS and paper charts, so I should survive.
This is all very much non deep sea blue water long distance stuff but I think it is realistic for my purposes and it means no holes in the boat, which I like. I don’t have any on board network, just a sounder and a tillerpilot.
Some people have said ‘I would never sail without a proper marine quality plotter’ It is true that they are ‘better’ in that they have many more navigational functions, more automated interfacing options and are more waterproof even than a good tablet case. But they cost a lot. The chart software costs a lot. You can’t use them to stream music, send email, speculate on global financial markets, go shopping or take a photo. They require external sensors and dedicated mounting. ....

Up until about 2005 I never had a plotter! I had a GPS that gave a lat/long and a compass, sounder, binoculars etc. And before that I didn’t have a GPS. Most people didn’t. We survived.
So I reckon my setup provides ample redundancy, superb real usability, reasonable economy and can all be tidied away nicely rather than littering my small cockpit with anachronistic kit.

 

[PhillM]

Thanks Gdallas, I see your point of view. However the unit mentioned is AIS transmit. That's the killer application for me. I want to be seen. Aith my current setup, I can see them, but when caught out in fog (as I was last year) I would have felt a whole lot happier if the big stuff could have seen me.

The unit on offer appears to offer both plotter and AIS transmit for the same price as a AIS TX unit only. So, my question is, is this "too good to be true" or just a decent Chinese look-alike product?

 

[pvb]

Thanks Gdallas, I see your point of view. However the unit mentioned is AIS transmit. That's the killer application for me. I want to be seen. Aith my current setup, I can see them, but when caught out in fog (as I was last year) I would have felt a whole lot happier if the big stuff could have seen me.

The unit on offer appears to offer both plotter and AIS transmit for the same price as a AIS TX unit only. So, my question is, is this "too good to be true" or just a decent Chinese look-alike product?

Don't assume that an AIS transponder will guarantee that big stuff will see you. About the only foolproof solution is an active radar transponder. They should always have their radar on...

 

[PhillM]

Don't assume that an AIS transponder will guarantee that big stuff will see you. About the only foolproof solution is an active radar transponder. They should always have their radar on...

S band or X band or dual?

 

[pvb]

S band or X band or dual?

If your main concern is "big stuff" then you need S-band. I don't think you can buy an S-band only device, so that means getting a dual.

 

[prv]

About the only foolproof solution is an active radar transponder. They should always have their radar on...

They may not be looking at it though.

Coming back from France this August, we heard a yacht call a ship asking if they had been seen. The OOW sounded slightly concerned and replied "No sir, I do not see your AIS."

The yacht stated that they didn't have an AIS transmitter, and after a short pause the OOW came back sounding pleasantly surprised, saying "Ah yes, here you are on the radar."

Clearly he should have been monitoring both, ideally on an ECDIS screen that combines them, but not all ships are so fitted and not every watchkeeper is always as diligent as they should be.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that AIS is guaranteed to be noticed either. Just that an RTE isn't a "foolproof solution". Nothing is.

Pete

 

[PhillM]

They may not be looking at it though.

Coming back from France this August, we heard a yacht call a ship asking if they had been seen. The OOW sounded slightly concerned and replied "No sir, I do not see your AIS."

The yacht stated that they didn't have an AIS transmitter, and after a short pause the OOW came back sounding pleasantly surprised, saying "Ah yes, here you are on the radar."

That is exactly what happened to me twice this year. Hence the idea to install AIS TX

 

[doug748]

No help to you I am afraid but if my present plotter gives up this is the product I will be going for.

I have a similar thing now, mounted under the spayhood above the companionway, perfect for a tiller steered boat. It has integrated AIS, receive only though.
Might be worth asking if they do any bundle deal with charts.

 

[groob32]

I've just installed an Onwa KP708 plotter transponder, £600 for a bigger screen and faster processor, complete with Onwa K3 UK chart. It all works well, one or two niggles but great value. I have a pushpit arial which receives up to at least 18 miles, can't give a transmission range (but does appear on Marine Traffic app after a couple of minutes).
I got it from Aves Marine. The autopilot on the first one didn't work properly and they were fully supportive and exchanged for one that did. I'm very happy with it.